Next weekend, I plan on going to see the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie in theaters. I started thinking about pirates in general and pondering over the reason why we find them so attractive. Why is a pirate, who is supposed to be the scum of society, in their day at least, so appealing to everyone nowadays?

My obsession with pirates began when I was younger and watched "Peter Pan" for the first time. I loved watching Captain Hook and the pirates, and my love quickly grew after I watched the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film. I fell in love with Captain Jack Sparrow, and still to this day, I cannot get enough of seeing him on screen. Then came my obsession with the "Once Upon a Time" version of the notorious Captain Hook, also known as Killian Jones.

So, what is it about these dirty, rotten-toothed, thieving, eyeliner-wearing guys that make all the girls fall in love? I certainly would not go out looking for a man who fits a pirate's description in real-life. It has to be more than just the good-looking actors that portray these characters. Maybe it is our need to romanticize pirates. But why do we do that? Pirates are not supposed to be liked; they were to be feared and no one wanted them around.

I think we love the idea of a fantasy world full of adventure and danger without ever leaving our house. We need pirates, and other movie characters, to live vicariously through. We need them to be evil or deep-down good men to feed our fantasies of an adventure-filled life with a little bit of romance thrown in the mix.

I mean, seriously, what is more romantic than getting married in the rain on a pirate ship, in the middle of a fight?